Jason Clark (Photo provided —Jason Clark)

SARANAC LAKE — Shortly after arriving at a Washington County Democratic Committee picnic in Granville, Jason Clark was thrust into the history books.

“As far as the different days that ‘Will you remember where you were on such-and-such a date,’ whether that was the Challenger explosion or 9/11 or whatever, (Sunday) ranks up there for me in terms of the historic-ness of it,” Clark said Monday.

A Saranac Lake resident and vice chair of the state Democratic Party, Clark had been anticipating his trip to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August — which coincides with his 50th birthday — where he was chosen to serve as one of the more than 3,900 delegates pledged to support President Joseph Biden. Typically, delegates are more of a formality at modern party conventions, where candidates win a majority of delegates in primary races and are unopposed at the convention. There hasn’t been a brokered convention since the 1952 DNC and a contested convention since the 1976 Republican National Convention.

When Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race on Sunday, less than a month before the DNC, he released all of his delegates to vote for whomever they choose. Clark’s role went from ceremonial to historic in one afternoon.

Clark was running late to the picnic and out of cell service when he heard.

“It was myself, the chair of the Saratoga County (Democratic) committee, the chair of the Warren County committee, the acting chair and the past chair of the Washington County committee and Comptroller (Thomas) DiNapoli,” he said. “As I walked in, the first person I saw was Alan Stern, who was the past chairman of (the Washington County) committee, and he asked me, ‘Did you hear anything on the way in about any sort of announcement?’ … The problem was, broadband coverage in that part of Washington County, nobody could get on the internet to confirm it.”

One of DiNapoli’s aides was eventually able to confirm that Biden had withdrawn from the race, and Clark, along with other state Democratic leaders, “found a spot on the backside of the barn, across the street and down a hill” where they had enough cell service to load a news article.

“It was pretty cool to be with friends within the party” when the news broke, Clark said.

As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, 1,208 delegates had pledged support to Vice President Kamala Harris. She needs 1,976 by the first ballot of the convention to secure the Democratic nomination. Some state parties — Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida — have pledged all of their eligible delegates to Harris.

Previously the vice chair of the St. Lawrence County Democratic Committee and a member of the state committee for almost 20 years, Clark is deeply involved in the Democratic party and is friends with other delegates and party leaders. He said that he anticipates that New York will not unilaterally pledge its delegates, though the majority of delegates will choose to back Harris anyway.

“Our state party works, there’s a lot of latitude for individual choice and decisions. I do think, however, you’re going to see pretty solid solidarity behind the vice president simply because we were all elected as Biden-Harris delegates,” he said. “So, going into the process, we had pledged our support for the president and vice president and that really hasn’t changed for most of us.”

Harris has also received endorsements from other politicians considered her strongest challengers, eliminating the possibility they’ll vie for the nomination: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, among others.

This means that, though the party’s nomination is currently open and Biden’s delegates are released, they may only have one possible candidate to vote for at the convention: Harris.

Clark is “100%” planning on pledging support to Harris.

“I think Vice President Harris has done yeoman’s work in terms of proving herself to be a prolific fundraiser,” he said. “Epic amounts of support have come in financially. On the whole, I think the party is in a good place, the vice president is in a good place, and I think moving forward, we’re in the right position to defeat (Republican candidate and former President Donald) Trump in November.”

Harris’s campaign said on Monday that it had raised $81 million since her campaign launched on Sunday afternoon.

The biggest question that looms over delegates in the run-up to the Aug. 19 DNC, Clark said, is who will become the vice presidential nominee now that Harris has moved to the top of the ticket.

“I’m confident that the vice president will end up with the nomination, but we haven’t heard a lot in the way of interest or anything along those lines with respect to the vice presidential pick,” he said.

Among those floated as possible vice presidential nominees are the swing-state governors who’ve lined up to endorse Harris, though Whitmer said on Monday that she’d turn down the vice presidential nomination if it was offered to her.

Clark said that the mood amongst his fellow delegates is grateful for Biden and energized for Harris.

“The one thing that we all have in common is a general appreciation for the job (Biden has) done,” he said.

Biden’s decision to withdraw is “probably the most difficult decision anybody could ever possibly make,” Clark added.

“The president put country before himself, and that’s not something that we’ve been accustomed to,” he said. “I think (the delegates are) all appreciative of the fact that he made the decision he did for his own personal reasons, and we certainly wish him the best as we all move forward.”